Lords of Thunder

Lords of Thunder is a fantasy-themed scrolling shoot 'em up game, in which the player controls the knight Landis, donning the armor of his ancestor Drak on a confrontation against Zaggart of Garuda Empire, who resurrected the evil god Deoric, and his six dark generals across the land of Mistral. Prior to starting, a configuration menu can be accessed at the game's title screen, where any of the four available difficulty settings can be selected, and each one arranges both stage hazards and enemy patterns. In addition, a hidden boss rush mode is accessible at the configuration screen via cheat code. The gameplay structure is different from that of Gate of Thunder; Once the stage is selected, the player selects one of four armors (based on the four classical elements) to use, affecting Landis' shots and bombs, as well as the difficulty depending on the selected armor. The player can buy items for Landis before a stage begins with crystal currency at the in-game shop. Landis is equipped with long-range shots, a powerful sword for close-range attacks, and bombs capable of obliterating enemies and bullets on-screen. When defeated, enemies will occasionally drop collectable items for Landis such as heart icons that restores his health, power crystals that increases his weapon firepower as well as blue and red crystals, which are exchangeable at the shop. Collecting the blue and red crystals are also crucial to reach high-scores. Getting hit by enemy fire or colliding against solid stage obstacles decreases Landis' health and firepower, and the game is over once his health bar is depleted, though the player has the option to select another stage or keep playing using limited continues. More continues can be purchased via the shop. == Development and release ==

series and Gate of Thunder'' at Red. Lords of Thunder was developed by Red Raimon (also known as Red Kaminarimon), a group within Red responsible for Gate of Thunder, consisting of former Technosoft staff which previously worked on the Thunder Force series (particularly Thunder Force II and Thunder Force III) but left the company in 1991 and would later form the game development company CAProduction in 1993, with Kazunori Nakazawa serving as planner and character designer. Production was co-led by Hudson Soft members by Eiji Aoyama and Masaki Kobayashi, while Tomonori Matsunaga acted as director. Manga artist Masamune Shirow was responsible for the cover art illustration. Lords of Thunder was first published in North America by Turbo Technologies in March 1993 for the TurboDuo, and later in Japan by Hudson Soft on April 23 for the PC Engine Super CD-ROM² under the title Winds of Thunder. To advertise the game, a promotional recording edited by Tony Hawk limited to 10,000 copies was given away for free via direct order. The title received a Sega CD port developed by Hudson Soft and Eleven, which was first released in North America on March 28, 1995, and in Europe in June of that year. The original TurboDuo version has been re-released several times; it was re-released on the Wii's Virtual Console on February 7, 2008, in Europe, then in North America on February 11, and later in Japan on June 10. It was also re-released for the PlayStation Network as part of the "PC Engine Archives" line in Japan on August 18, 2010. It was re-released through the Wii U's Virtual Console as well in Japan on October 21, 2015, and in North America on November 9, 2017. The game was included in both the Japanese and western variants of the TurboGrafx-16 Mini console in 2020. == Reception ==

Lords of Thunder garnered acclaim from critics since its release on the TurboDuo. Public reception was also positive: readers of PC Engine Fan voted to give the game a 23.76 out of 30 score, ranking at the number 53 spot in a poll, indicating a large popular following. Electronic Gaming Monthly named it the magazine's "Game of the Month" for March 1993. VideoGames & Computer Entertainments Clayton Walnum gave positive remarks to the visuals for showcasing the capabilities of the TurboGrafx, large and detailed bosses, lack of slowdown, frantic pacing and music, stating that "Lords of Thunder is the perfect game for players with fast reflexes and strong controller hands." Electronic Gaming Monthlys four reviewers described it as dramatically inferior to the TurboDuo version, and commented that it had become outdated since the TurboDuo version was released. Next Generation felt it was similar to Forgotten Worlds and stated that "the game has its moments, but you've seen them, and played them through hundreds of times before as well. Go away!". AllGames Shawn Sackenheim highly acclaimed the colorful and varied visuals, hard rock soundtrack, upgradable armor and weapon system as well as its fast pacing. IGN Italias Andrea Corritore identified the game as one of the most important shooting games on the PC Engine, alongside Gate of Thunder, Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire and Rayxanber III. Reviewing the Virtual Console reissue of the TurboDuo version, Nintendo Lifes Damien McFerran deemed it even better than Gate of Thunder. McFerran especially praised the challenging and strategic gameplay and the parallax scrolling. He also added that the soundtrack "is discussed in hushed, almost reverent tones by those that have had the pleasure of experiencing it. It's rip-roaring guitar rock – the kind of music that you might turn your nose up at if you were to hear it on the radio – but in this context, it fits like a chain mail glove". Eurogamers Dan Whitehead highlighted its soundtrack, as with Gate of Thunder. IGNs Lucas M. Thomas called it one of the best shooter games on the Virtual Console, stating that it proves to still be just as compelling and energetic "15 years" since its original release. Hardcore Gaming 101s Eric Johnathan Smith opined that the Sega CD's soundtrack felt "less raw" than that of the TurboDuo original. The Japanese book PC Engine Complete Guide 1987-1999 praised the speedy scrolling and expressed surprise about the multiple scrolling backgrounds. They also evaluated the music positively, stating that "the unique atmosphere of high quality metal is attractive". == Notes ==